Graphic Designers in Maryland
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$58,472
after federal, FICA and Maryland tax
Tax takes
$16,648
22.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$56,242
Maryland costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Maryland — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$75,120
Kept after tax
$58,472
Worth in national money
$56,242
State rank
6
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Maryland pays graphic designers a middle wage of $75,120, ranking 6 of 51 states and sitting about 19.31% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Graphic designers ranks 190 among 489 occupations Maryland publishes pay for.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $75,120, tax leaves $58,472 — and because Maryland is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $56,242 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $77,770, since top earners drag the number up.
- Maryland's median for graphic designers is $75,120, about 19.31% above the national figure and 6 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Position 190 of 489 in Maryland places graphic designers in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- After tax, $58,472 remains from the Maryland median of $75,120 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $56,242 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $77,770 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Graphic Designers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $44,810 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $75,120 |
| Top tenth earn over | $109,630 |
| This salary | $75,120 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Maryland | $58,472 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $61,677 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,228 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $70,565 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,814 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 104 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Maryland earn less than $75,120. The published range is $44,810 up to $109,630, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $58,472 take-home in Maryland comes from $75,120. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 190 of 489.
- Two cautions on $56,242, the adjusted value of that $75,120 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Maryland. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 190 of 489 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for graphic designers in Maryland the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $44,810 to $109,630. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $58,472, from $75,120, assumes a single Maryland filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 190 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 6 of 51 for it.
- This $56,242 adjusted figure, worked from $75,120, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 190 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 190 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $77,770, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $44,810 and the top tenth $109,630 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $56,242 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Maryland then takes its own share, leaving $58,472.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Maryland is $77,770. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($44,810) and the ninetieth ($109,630) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Maryland's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $56,242 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $58,472 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Maryland income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.